Here are some quotations that I’ve collected over the years about the amazing genius of children. “The real magic wand is the child’s own mind.” – Jose Ortega Y Gasset (Spanish philosopher) “The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” – Mencius (Chinese sage) “No Columbus, no Marco Polo has ever seen stranger and...Read More

I am sickened by a news report from Reuters on the rapid rise in the use of standardized testing at the kindergarten level.  The push for academic accountability in the higher grades has been essentially pushed downwards through the grade levels and now sits like a 10-ton block of steel on what used to be literally a “children’s garden”...Read More

I think there should be a whole new movement in education called “children’s peak experiences in learning.” There ought to be books about it, M.Ed. and Ph.D. degree programs about it, tons of research about it.  Why?  Because when we observe learning at its best, only then do we have true benchmarks to evaluate the...Read More

Maybe you’ve reached a point where you consider your child/student (choose one or more):  unmotivated, lazy, spoiled, hyper, inept, bratty, inattentive, unmanageable, messy, distractible, beyond redemption.   Before you give up on your child, consider what the following parents and teachers felt about their own children and students: “This fat, little fellow goes around in a...Read More

My Note:  During my recent trip to the Philippines, I did a number of media interviews (television, print, and online).  Here is an article that came out of one such interview.  It appeared at www.InterAkyson.com, the online news portal of TV 5 in Quezon City, Philippines: Educator warns: Be wary of schools preparing kids for ‘next level,’ focus...Read More